A new era in California criminal justice dawned this week, as hundreds of inmates walked out of county jails and more than 4,000 held in state prison readied for possible release with reduced sentences for theft or drug crimes, following voter approval of Proposition 47.

Around the Bay Area, judges did not even wait for election results to be certified before resentencing inmates and reducing charges. And attorneys geared up to ensure the law’s mandates are implemented as swiftly as possible.

“It’s a move in the right direction in terms of getting smarter in how we address low-level offenses that are driven many times by drug addiction and mental health issues,” said Contra Costa Public Defender Robin Lipetzky. “The revolving door of incarceration hasn’t worked … We are hopeful that district attorneys have heard that message and will adjust their thinking, looking for rehabilitation instead of prosecution and incarceration.”

The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation estimated 4,770 state prison inmates are eligible to petition for resentencing, and untold more serving time in county jails or awaiting trial could also be released or have sentences dropped.

On Friday, two Contra Costa judges signed orders for the release of seven inmates serving sentences across the state for crimes committed in the East Bay county. The seven had drug or theft charges reduced to misdemeanors under the state measure. And Lipetzky estimated 35 inmates had been released as of Friday from the county jail. Some of them had enough time served to be set free once their charges were reduced to a misdemeanor, and the others were released on lower or no bail.

Small army

Lipetzky plans to send a small army of her lawyers to a Martinez courtroom every Friday to get through all the eligible cases.

Crimes reduced from felonies to misdemeanors under Proposition 47 include drug possession and certain nonviolent offenses when less than $950 is involved, such as theft, possession of stolen goods, forgery, shoplifting, and check and credit fraud.

The new maximum sentence will be a year in jail, down from three years. Inmates or defendants with histories of violence or sex offenses are not eligible for reductions.

Three populations are affected by Proposition 47: defendants or felony probationers with charges pending, inmates serving sentences and felons who completed sentences. Those who already served their time can petition the court to get felony convictions changed to misdemeanors on their records.

“We are very pleased about the passage of Prop. 47,” said Molly O’Neal, Santa Clara public defender. “Our first order of business is to handle any eligible defendants who are in custody.”

O’Neal’s office filed 15 petitions for resentencing Wednesday that will be heard Monday. She said state prison officials indicated 70 state inmates who were from Santa Clara are eligible for resentencing relief, and they have started working on those cases.

Andrew Gutierrez, Santa Clara deputy public defender, estimated “dozens and dozens” of defendants across the county’s various courthouses had their pending charges reduced since Election Day, with some being released.

“What happened immediately Wednesday was courts started converting affected felonies to misdemeanors and some were credited out,” he said.

In Alameda County, Public Defender Brendon Woods called Proposition 47 a “great move” for the state, saying the money was better spent in mental health services and drug rehabilitation. Proponents of the measure say that savings from housing fewer inmates will save the state estimated hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Those savings will be redirected to truancy and dropout prevention programs, and mental heath and drug abuse treatment services.

“We’ve had people released from jail in our county also,” Woods said. “We have not brought anyone back from state prison yet who are currently serving their sentence. That we will start in the next week or two.”

San Francisco’s district attorney campaigned for the measure and that county acted quickly after 58 percent of Californians approved it.

“We may have had the very first one,” said Tamara Barak Aparton, spokeswoman for the San Francisco County Public Defender’s Office.

At a preliminary hearing at 9 a.m. Wednesday, hours after voters passed Prop. 47, a San Francisco judge reduced a man’s felony charge for possession of a controlled substance to a misdemeanor, Barak Aparton said.

In Sacramento County, two dozen suspects walked out of Sacramento County jail on Thursday. They were among the more than 400 Sacramento jail inmates expected to be freed while they await trial on reduced charges.

“I’m not surprised. One of the things we knew would happen as a result (of the measure) was the premature and unsupervised release of criminals,” Lovell said. “This is just the first wave of releases. Let us hope to God these people don’t go out and hurt somebody else.”

Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully sees another unintended consequence.

Generally, only suspects arrested on felonies are required to submit DNA samples. Her office recently built a murder conviction around a link to a suspect whose DNA was on file because of a felony drug arrest.

“Under Proposition 47, he would not be in that databank,” she said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. Contact Matthias Gafni at 925-952-5026. Follow him at Twitter.com/mgafni.

Matthias Gafni is a Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter for the Bay Area News Group. He has reported and edited for Bay Area newspapers since he graduated from UC Davis, covering courts, crime, environment, science, child abuse, education, county and city government, and corruption. A Bay Area native, he loves his Warriors, Giants and 49ers. Send tips to 925-952-5026 or mgafni@bayareanewsgroup.com. Send him an encrypted text on Signal at 408-921-8719.

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